The proportion of young people smoking cigarettes rose sharply when San Francisco banned flavored e-cigarettes. This is the result of a study comparing smoking habits of young people in different US cities.
That banning flavorings in both tobacco and e-liquid for e-cigarettes has become increasingly common as politicians seek to reduce nicotine use among young people. Several US states, as well as several European countries, have introduced varying degrees of bans since 2018. In Sweden, too, a governments a ban on all flavors, except tobacco flavors.
But how does banning the taste of e-cigs affect young people's nicotine habits?
Researchers at the Yale School of Public Health want to find out.
Taste bans lead young people to smoking
San Francisco was one of the first cities in the US to ban flavorings in e-liquid and tobacco. By the time the ban was introduced in 2018, the percentage of schoolchildren smoking was on the decline at 4%. Similar figures were reported from nearby cities. Two years later, the share of young smokers in neighboring cities had decreased further, to 3%, while the share of young smokers in San Francisco increased significantly. To almost 6 percent.
"This is a worrying development. It suggests that restricting access to electronic cigarettes is leading young people to smoke instead," the researcher writes Abigail Friedman who carried out the study.
Substitutes for cigarettes
In the study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)The study involved 10 000 high school students in San Francisco who were compared with 100 000 students in schools in nearby cities. The researchers point out that the results do not necessarily point to the same trend in other cities and states in the US.
"But at the same time, other studies on raising age limits show that they favor cigarette sales at the expense of e-cigarette sales. This suggests that the products are substitutes for each other." writes Abigail Friedman in her analysis.
Eferlyser cautious regulation
She says the results are an indication that politicians need to think carefully when regulating e-cigarettes. At least if the aim is to reduce smoking among the population.
"Although the rules are the same for smoking tobacco as for e-cigarettes, they affect young people who vejpar, more than young people who smoke. Policymakers should be careful when regulating these products. It is easy for the rules to create incentives to increase the use of traditional cigarettes" says Abigail Friedman to Gizmodo magazine.
She is now calling for more studies looking at the consequences of flavor bans for e-cigarettes.
"Should have been obvious"
The study has attracted the attention of several US media outlets and prompted a reaction from many health commentators. In particular, those who support a harm reduction approach to reducing the harms of cigarette smoking.
"It may not have been obvious to some politicians that e-cigarettes are a substitute for cigarettes. But the study should have implications for future policy work. Restricting e-cigarettes, whether in terms of flavors, nicotine strength or otherwise, is likely to lead to more people choosing cigarettes," writes the author. Christopher Snowden
Flavor ban underway in Sweden
Currently, several states and cities are planning a ban. In Europe, countries like Denmark and Finland have already introduced flavor bans for electronic cigarettes. The Netherlands is expected to introduce flavor bans in 2022. And as Vejpkollen previously reported, the Swedish government presented a legislative proposal to ban all non-tobacco flavors in e-liquid. The European Commission is also expected to examine the possibility of banning flavors in e-liquid under the EU Tobacco Products Directive.
